Wisdom and Common Sense — Morning Devotions

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Transcript

If you went to Sunday school as a young person, you might have actually said this prayer. It goes like this, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.

Sunday school classes used to sing it as a kind of a doxology at the end of the class, and they were words from Psalm 19:12. Now, it’s very old, but it has actually a tremendous statement, because words and deeds, what we say and what we do go together. It’s just like a love and marriage or horse and carriage, you know, these go together. The Bible often says that words and actions must go together. James says, don’t deceive yourselves by just listening to his Word, instead, put it into practise.

Now it’s possible to say with our mouth that we belong to Jesus Christ and deny that claim by what we do. Richard Foster, the well-known Christian author, used to say we cannot preach good news and be bad news.

Jesus told the story of two sons who were asked by their father to go into the field and do a certain job. One said he would not go, but he changed his mind and went, and the other son quickly said, ‘Yes, I’ll go,’ but actually didn’t carry out his promise. And Jesus asked his listeners which one really did the will of the Father. It’s a good story because, you see, words are not enough. Action was required as well as the words.

Words only made sense when they were backed up by deeds.

Now the Greeks, they used to believe that if a person had wisdom and common sense, he would be perfectly equipped for life. And when Jesus came he was fascinated by life, of course, and people were fascinated by Him. He talked about eternal life, and he answered some of the big questions that people were asking about life and death, but he also knew how to deal with the everyday issues of life.

We could call it sanctified common sense. He was able to solve problems every day, and many of the people were puzzled about Jesus. They used to say, how could this man from Nazareth get all this wisdom and knowledge.

They couldn’t believe that this man of Galilee was the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy that the Spirit of the Lord would be on Him.

And as you read the Gospels, you note that Jesus was asked many questions, and people were thronging around him much of the time, crowds there, and people were asking his opinion on events like the fall of a tower or the threats of Herod or why was a man born blind. I mean, these were sort of questions, quite extraordinary. Answers came too, and not what was expected by people. He went on in his mission with a calm resolve, calm courage. He had tremendous insight. He had, as I said, common sense.

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One day Jesus observed some guests jockeying for seats at the head table to see who would sit in the most important seats, and Jesus said, look, it’d be wiser for you to take lower seats and be invited up higher than to take higher seats and be told to move down.

Another day he gave advice that if you’re living in an occupied country, it’s better when commandeered to walk 1 mile carrying the military baggage to offer to go further. Do it voluntarily, he said. It’s best to do that than seethe with resentment every step that you’ve got. And when he taught them about worry, he said, it’s no point worrying. I mean, can you live a bit longer by worrying? I mean, these were the sort of refreshing, wonderful things that Jesus could say.

So what I’m saying this morning is that Jesus made sense. He had tremendous credibility and integrity. People could see the transparent goodness.

He was a wise counsellor, and we know that we can ask God for wisdom as well. At no point, Jesus said, when you pray, don’t use a lot of meaningless words just like the pagans do. Don’t be like them, he said. Make sure your words, yes, are important. But be it from the heart and back it up with your actions.

And I like what James again said in his epistle, Chapter 3. Are there any of you who are wise and understanding? He said, You are to prove it by your good life, by your good deeds performed with humility and with wisdom. And if you lack wisdom, ask God. Wisdom comes from God. So there it is. Jesus did make sense, and he had some wonderful things to say.

Let’s Pray

Well Jesus, your early disciples spent a lot of time together with you in the temple, and they continued with glad hearts and generous hearts. They sang praises when people used to listen, and we thank you that Jesus offers us wisdom, and I pray that we will be the people who understand you and are able to give your knowledge to others, and I pray it in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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